"Mazal tov," ejaculated both Jeiteles and his wife. "May the Lord of Israel bless you."
The messenger from Odessa was dismissed with a negative reply.
There was a merry gathering the following Saturday afternoon to congratulate the betrothed couple. Sincere were the wishes for their future happiness that were showered upon them. It is a characteristic of Israelites the world over to feel a lively interest in whatever befalls their co-religionists, high or low. "Despised and rejected" by their gentile neighbors, they sought for consolation and found it in the society of their own kin, and thus arose this sympathy, this love for one another which has so strongly cemented the hearts of the Jews.
"Clannish" has been hurled at them as a term of reproach. So are the frightened sheep clannish when they huddle together in the shelterless field, for protection against the blasts of the pitiless storm.
The interval between the betrothal and the wedding is usually short, and the happy day that made Mendel and Recha man and wife was not long in coming.
"I have a request to make," said the student to the Rabbi, a few days before the all-important event took place.
"Name it, my son," replied the Rabbi.
"I do not wish Recha to have her hair cut off. Her tresses are her crowning beauty, and it would grieve me to the heart to see her shorn of them."
The Rabbi shrugged his shoulders and uttered a short ejaculation of surprise.
"A breach of so old a custom," said he, "will be looked upon by the whole congregation as impiety."